Stabilizers



Feb. 25', 1964 G. DREWS 3,121,582

I STABILIZERS Filed Oct. 19, 1962 INVENTOR 6067711 DQEWS l 1:: A rroeA/EV United States Patent M 3,121,882 STABILHZERS Gustav Brews, Garden Qity, N.Y., assigns: to Eclipse Sleep Products, Inc, Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Get. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 23Zl,$tld 3 Claims. (-Jl. -261) This invention relates to stabilizers in general and more especially to stabilizers for supporting the edges of the spring units of mattresses, and the like.

Among the objects of the present invention it is aimed to provide an improved stabilizer for supporting the edges of the spring units of mattresses or the like, contemplating a substantially endless flexible unit of an oval or hexagonal shape having oppositely d sposed abutments anchored to the border or border wires of the mattress, and laterally outwardly extending portions having curved indents therein, the arcs of which have a radius of substantial length to supplement the remaining portions of the stabilizer in yieldability without danger of fracture at such portions and forming abutments or perches for the ends of the transversely extending spiral spring extending longitudinally of the stabilizer also to supplement the yieldability of the stabilizer and to supplement the reaction to compression of the stabilizer.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a stabilizer for supporting the edges of the spring unit of a mattress or the like contemplating a substantially endless flexible unit of substantially oval or hexagonal shape having oppositely disposed abutmen-ts connected to the borders or border wires of the spring units of a mattress and laterally outwardly extending portions having inwardly curved indents, the arcs of which have a radius of slight length, supplemented by the flexible unit having a substantial thickness in turn to supplement the remaining portions of the stabilizer in yieldability without danger of fracture at such portions and forming abutments or perches 'for the ends of a transversely extending spinal spring extending longitudinally of the stabilizer to supplement the reaction to compression of the stabilizer.

These and other features, capabilities, and advantages of the invention will appear from the subjoined detailed description of specific embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmental perspective partly in section of the inner spring unit of a mattress equipped with stabilizers oval in shape and made according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of a stabilizer made according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 attached to the borders of the spring unit of a mattress composed of wire or the like.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation on the scale of FIG. 2 of a second embodiment of the stabilizer detached and formed into a six-sided figure.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation on the scale of FIG. 2 of a third embodiment of the stabilizer detach-ed, oval in shape, having the ends of the yieldable material comprising the stabilizer twisted instead of knotted as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and the indents at the laterally extending portion curved with arcs having a shorter radius than the arcs of the curved indents of FIGS. 1 to 3 inelusive.

FIG. 5 is a group of transverse sections of four types of wire suitable for use with the present invention namely, circular, oval, rectangular and diamond shaped.

FIG. 6 is a fragmental detail showing how the ends of the flexible material constituting the stabilizer may be 3,l2l,832 Patented Feb. 25, 1954 welded instead of knotted as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, or twisted as shown in FIG. 4.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inner spring unit 1 of a mattress has border wires 2 and 3 of the upper and lower layers 4 of the inner spring unit connected to and spaced from one another by a plurality of hourglass spiral springs 5. The edges or border wires 2 and 3 are connected by spiral springs 6 to stabilizers 7. The stabilizer unit this embodiment may be composed of wire having a cylindrical cnoss section 8, an oval cross section 9, a rectangular cross section 10, or a diamond shaped cross section 11, as illustnated in FIG. 5. The stabilizer 7 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is substantially oval in shape with its ends knotted, one end '12 of the Wire 13 knotted adjacent the other end 14 which is similarly knotted to the wire 13 adjacent to the knotted end 12. --I

The portion of the stabilizer 7 adjacent the border Wire 2 is connected thereto as shown by the spiral wire 6. In turn the portion 15 of the stabilizer 7 is connected to the wire 3 by the spiral wire 16.

The intervening ends 17 and 18 of the stabilizer extend outwardly from one another and have a slight deflection or indentation 19 in the portion 17, and 20 in the portion 18. These indentations are arcuate in shape and both at their outer portions 21 and 22 and their inner portions 23 are described by a substantially long radius differing but slightly from the radius of the arcuate portion of the extensions 17 and 18. To the inwardly extending porions 23 of the indentations 19 and 20 constituting abutments or perches, the ends 24 and 25 of the transversely extending spiral 26 are connected as shown in FIG. 2. When the radius of the arcs of the portions 21, 22 and 23 are substantially long, the hazard of a fracture of the stabilizer '7 at the indentations 19 and 20 is reduced to a minimum.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 differs from the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 primarily in that the stabilizer 27 there shown is formed into a six-sided figure instead of :an oval consisting of the sides 28, 29, 3d, 31, 32 and 33.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 differs from the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 primarily that the end portions 34 and 35 of the stabilizer 36 are twisted to adjacent end portions of the stabilizer 36 instead of being knotted as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 2 and furthermore in that the indentations 37 and 38 have their portions 39, 40 and 41 formed into Iarcs having comparatively short radii as compared to the arcs of the portions 21, 22 and 23 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2. To this extent the indentations 37 and 38 form a more pronounced perch for the ends of the spiral spring 42 with the possible accompanying sacrifice of resistance to fracture.

The ends of the wire 43 and 44 may be welded to one another as shown in FIG. 6 instead of twisted as shown in FIG. 4 or knotted as shown in FIG. 2. If the wires 43 and 44 are lap welded, in side elevation, they may assume the appearance illustrated in FIG. 6, particularly if fiat Wire.

if the stabilizers 7, 27 and 36 are composed of a wire having a cross section that has a greater thickness in one direction than in the other as for instance, the oval cross section 9, the rectangular cross section it} and the diamond shaped cross section 11 of FIG. 5, preferably the wire when formed into an oval or hexagonal shape will have its wider thickness extending vertically to the plane of the oval or hexagon to resist the tendency to bulge laterally of the stabilizer.

As appears from my previously filed application, Serial No. 766,598, filed October 10, 1958, now abandoned,

CID

7 3 upholstered items not infrequently lost their usefulness due to the collapse of the borders of the mattress and due to the distorted shapes in general of the upholstered items that csulted from the collapse of the borders. While these border stab ers when used with innerspring mattresses were more rigid and less yieldable than the hourglass springs of the sprin s, this compare. tively greater rigidity was not objectionable since when a body rested on the upholstered item, he would not lie on the border but space inwardly from the same, and the border would contribute to maintain the inner portion of the upholstered item in shape. On the other hand if a user sat on the upholstered item with the lower, calf portion of tie leg extending downwardly along the border, the center of weight of the user would generally be located inwardly of the border and only a portion of the weight of the user be transmitted to the border, and furthermore ordinarily the weight of the user would be distributed between the portion of the upholstered item spaced from the border and the calf portion of the leg extending down to the floor adjacent the border. The fact remained, however, that occasionally a user of more than average weight mi ht sit on the border and cause it to bul e outwardly, not due to the vertical downward thrust on the border but due to the lateral thrust which the user would transmit in shifting his body from side to side, rearward, or forward, or when twisting the trunk of his body. While a single outward bulging force might not be harmless, a successive repetition of this outward bulging force would tend to distort the stabilizer so that it would eventually acquire an objectionally obnoxious outward bulge.

Many attempts have been made to overcome the aforesaid objection. Merely increasing the yieldability of the stabilizer was not sullicient since the greater the yieldability, the more easily a lateral thrust due to the lateral rearward or forward shifting of the body of the user sitting on the border would transmit a thrust on the stabilizer which would cause it to bulge. A fiat spring instead of a round spring due to its greater resistance to torsional or lateral forces than the resistance to torsional or lateral forces of a round spring would overcome this objection. Upon experiment it was found that this advantage resulted primarily from the fact that the major axis of the fiat spring was greater than its minor axis. It was further found that a wire having an elliptical or diamond shaped cross section had substantially the same advantage as a round wire and the further advantage over a wire rectangular in cross section that the wire diamond shaped or elliptical she: ed in cross ection of about half the weight of wire rectangular in cross section would produce the same advantageous results so long as the major axis and minor axis of the oval wire relative to the rectangular wire was substantially the same. When consideration is taken of the fact that wire is sold by the pound, while wire of diamond shape or elliptical shape in cross section is slightly greater in cost than round wire per pound, the price is substantially the same as flat wire rectangular in cross section per pound while the resistance to torsional or bending stresses would depend primarily upon the difference in length of the major axis over the minor axis and consequently a flat wire rectangular in cross section having substantially the same advantages as a wire diamond shaped or elliptical in cross section would weigh about twice as much and consequently cost twice as much. Aside from the foregoing, a wire diamond shaped or elliptical shaped in cross section could be conveniently connected to the border wires by the conventional he..cal strand of wire and in turn require a much smaller cliametcr of helix, again in the interest of a mrterial saving in the cost of the helical connecting wire required for connecting a wire diamond sha ed or elliptical in cross section to a border wire.

Excelen'r results have been achieved when the wire of which the stabilizer is composed consisted of high carbon steel spring wire, round, No. 13 gauge B. 8: S. of about 0.0915 in diameter, or a wire rectangular, chi,- tical, or diamond shaped, having either a major axis of 0.120 and a minor axis of 0.080" or a major axis of 0.146 and a minor axis of 0.073.

Still furthermore, excellent results have also been achievcd when the relative axes of the elliptical wire were major axis 0.122 and minor axis 0.095, or major axis 0.1l0" and minor axis 0.064" or major axis 0.100" and minor axis 0.075. in other worcs when including the first mentioned axes with the latter mentioned axes, the range of relative axes could be from a major axis of from 0.100 to 0.145 and a minor axis from 0.06 to 0.095 without an appreciable difference in result and yet avoid the non-buci ling objection above discussed.

Tests with round wire No. 13 gauge B. 8: S. of about 0.0915 diameter and .l 1' or M inor ehes Axis, inches Celliptic have shown the following: That they are substantially equal in bending strength when comparing resistance to bending laterally across their minor axis with bending round wire.

On the other hand, wires A, B, C and D have shown a much greater strength relative to round wire when bending laterally across the major axis, to wit substantially as follows:

Wire A is 1.31 times as Wire B is 1.84 times as Wire C is 1.51 times as strong as round wire.

Wire D is 2.03 times as strong as round wire.

In turn with regard to the resistance to axially twisting torsion relative to the round wire, tests have shown the following:

Wire A is 0.686 times as strong as round wire.

Wire i3 is 0.753 times as strong as round wire.

Wire C is 1.086 times as strong as round wire.

Wire D is L270 times as strong as round wire.

Still further the weights of these wires relative to the round wire are substantially as follows:

Wire A is 0.978 times as heavy as round wire.

Wire B is 1.098 times as heavy as round wire.

Wire C is 1.147 times as heavy as round wire.

Wire D is 1.273 times as heavy as round wire.

From an analysis based upon simple theory it has been shown that under torsion, that is substantially parallel to the major axis of the wire, the C wire 0.120 x .080 is about 50% stronger than the round wire aforesaid and that the D wire is about twice as strong, consideration in this test being given primarily to stillness and load carrying capacity.

Preferably, the six-sided figure disclosed in FIG. 3 would approximate 6" from abutment 29 to abutment 32 and 9" from end to end of the abutments for the transversely extending spring 45.

With the elliptical figure on the other hand, such as disclosed in F165. 2 and 4, preferably the distance from border wire 2 to border wire 3 of the unit 7 illustrated in FIG. 2 would approximate 6" and the distance from the indentation 19 to the indentation 20 would approximate 10''. The edge supporting devices of the approximate sizes aforesaid are those used for the conventional inner spring units today in use both for mattresses approximating 74" in length by 39" in width for the conventional twin size unit, and 74 in length by 54" in width for the full size unit. With stabilizers of this size, the radii of the arcs 21, 22 and 23 are approximately half strong as round wire. strong as round wire.

the radius of the arc of the bulge 18. In other words if the radius of the are for the bulge 18 is 2", the radius of each of the arcs 21, 22 and 23 would approximate 1". The reason for this ratio is primarily to provide an arc of the greatest radius possible at the portions 20, 21 and 22 in order to reduce the risk of breakage at this point during use of the edge support.

Excellent results have been achieved when the relationship is about 1 to 2 between the radius of each of the arcs 20, 21 and 22 and the radius of the end or bulge 17 or 18.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made Without departing from the general spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The edge support for the inner spring unit of a mattress or the like comprising an endless wire having parallel longitudinally extending abutments secured to said spring unit, intermediate outwardly extending curved portions having inwardly extending curved indentations forming perches, and a longitudinally extending spring connected at its ends to said perches.

2. An edge support for the inner spring unit of a mattress or the like comprising an oval shaped endless flexible element having parallel longitudinally extending sides constituting abutments secured to said inner spring unit, intermediate outwardly extending curved portions having inwardly extending curved indentations, the arcs of which latter curves are described from a long radius approximating the radius of the arc of the outwardly extending curved portions forming perches, and a longitudinally extending spiral spring connected at its ends to said perches.

3. Anedge support for the inner spring unit of a mattress or the like comprising a six-sided endless wire having parallel longitudinally extending sides constituting abutments secured to said inner spring unit, intermediate outwardly extending curved portions having inwardly extending curved indentations forming perches, the arcs of which latter curves are described from a long radius approaching the radius of the arc of the outwardly extending curved portions, and a longitudinally extending spiral spring connected at its ends to said perches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,509,831 Martin May 30, 1950 2,932,832 Levine Apr. 19, 1960 3,022,521 Martin Feb. 27, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 629,860 Great Britain Sept. 29, 1949 

1. THE EDGE SUPPORT FOR THE INNER SPRING UNIT OF A MATTRESS OR THE LIKE COMPRISING AN ENDLESS WIRE HAVING PARALLEL LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING ABUTMENTS SECURED TO SAID SPRING UNIT, INTERMEDIATE OUTWARDLY EXTENDING CURVED PORTIONS HAVING INWARDLY EXTENDING CURVED INDENTATIONS FORMING PERCHES, AND A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING SPRING CONNECTED AT ITS ENDS TO SAID PERCHES. 